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Cruise FactsTop 25 Largest Cruise Ships in the World

Top 25 Largest Cruise Ships in the World

What are the top 25 largest cruise ships in the world? With cruise lines continuing to build more mega ships than ever before, cruise ships continue to get bigger and bigger.
Costa Toscana, one of the world's top 10 largest cruise ships

Cruise ships are measured by gross tonnage, a volume measurement of the internal space inside a ship (not to be confused with weight).  The first cruise ship to ever break the 100,000 gross ton mark was Carnival Destiny (now re-branded as Carnival Sunshine) in 1996. There are now over 100 cruise ships 100,000 GT in size or larger.

Here is the current list of top 25 largest cruise ships in the world:

24. Tied for 24th, 25th, and the 26th largest cruise ships in the world are three Quantum class cruise ships from Royal Caribbean. Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas, and Ovation of the seas are 168,666 gross tons in size.

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23. Norwegian Encore, the final Breakaway Plus class ship from Norwegian Cruise Line, is 169,116 gross tons.

21-22. Royal Caribbean’s two Quantum Ultra class ships, Spectrum of the Seas and Odyssey of the Seas, are 169,379 gross tons.

The next six cruise ships on the list are from MSC Cruises, the world’s fastest growing cruise line.

19-20. MSC Cruises’ newest ship, MSC Seascape, is the same size as sister ship MSC Seashore at 170,412 gross tons.

17-18. MSC Cruises’ two Meraviglia class ships, MSC Meraviglia and MSC Bellissima, are 171,598 gross tons.

15-16.  MSC Cruises’ two Meraviglia Plus class ships, MSC Grandiosa and MSC Virtuosa, are 181,541 gross tons.
msc virtuosa

The next eight cruise ships on the list are Carnival Corporation’s Excel class vessels powered by LNG.

14. Carnival Cruise Line’s first true mega ship, Mardi Gras, is 181,808 gross tons. Mardi Gras is also the first cruise ship in the world to have a roller coaster on the top deck.

13. AIDAcosma is 183,200 gross tons. AIDA Cruises is Carnival’s German cruise line.

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12. Carnival Cruise Line’s newest and largest cruise ship, Carnival Celebration, is 183,521 gross tons.

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11. AIDAnova is 183,858 gross tons.

10. Iona is 184,089 gross tons. Iona is operated by P&O Cruises, Carnival’s British cruise line.

8-9. Costa Smeralda and Costa Toscana are 185,010 gross tons. Costa Cruises is an Italian cruise line from Carnival Corporation.
Costa Toscana

7. P&O Cruises’ newest cruise ship, Arvia, is 185,581 gross tons and the largest in Carnival Corporation’s fleet.

6. MSC World Europa is the largest cruise ship in MSC Cruises’ fleet.  This first World class ship became just the second class of cruise ships to be over 200,000 gross tons. The ship is 215,863 gross tons.

The top five current largest cruise ships in the world are all Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class.  This class of cruise ships first debuted in 2009 and forever changed cruising and launched the age of mega cruise ships.

5. Allure of the Seas is 225,282 gross tons.

4. Oasis of the Seas is 226,838 gross tons.

3. Harmony of the Seas is 226,963 gross tons.

2. Symphony of the Seas is 228,081 gross tons.

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1. The largest cruise ship in the world is Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas at 236,857 gross tons.  This is also the newest cruise ship in the cruise line’s fleet.

This list will drastically change over the next few years as there are currently eight cruise ships either under construction or on order that will be over 200,000 gross tons in size. This includes four cruise ships from Royal Caribbean, three from MSC Cruises, and one for Disney Cruise Line.

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Ben Souza
Ben Souza
Ben is a world traveler who has visited 40+ countries, taken over 70 cruises. He is one of USA TODAY's experts for their 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. His writings have appeared and been cited in various media outlets such as Yahoo News, MSN, NPR, CNN, Fox, and ABC News. Ben currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. Follow Ben on Instagram. Visit Ben Souza on Linkedin. You may email Ben at [email protected].
Cruise FactsTop 25 Largest Cruise Ships in the World
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